Monthly archive: June, 2012

Burton Makes An Impression At OTA’s

June 8, 2012, by 2 comments

Stephen Burton was a late round flier that the Vikings took last year, and he didn’t get a whole lot of chances to prove himself in the post-lockout arena.

However, Burton may be benefiting from a full offseason and could be an interesting guy to keep an eye on as the preseason progresses.  According to Mike Wobschall of Vikings.com, Burton is making an impression during OTA’s and Leslie Frazier has noticed his progress.

“You can see the confidence and that’s a big thing for a receiver, big thing for any young player,” Frazier said. “He has tremendous athletic ability and he is one of those guys who can jump out of the gym and make the acrobatic catch, but his confidence, that’s the one thing that you can see is coming through now.”

Burton is 6’ 1” and weighs 224 pounds, so he has the size and athleticism to be a solid option at wide out, but Wobschall also indicates that Burton will get a chance to prove himself as a return man.

We don’t have the same video evidence as we do with Jerome Simpson (click here), but I can’t help but get a little giddy every time I hear about a young guy progressing… because that is what this offseason is all about.

I had Burton sticking to the 53 man roster in my early projections.

Felton Wants You To Know He Is Sorry

June 7, 2012, by 1 comment

If you are here, then you are probably a Vikings fan.  Jerome Felton has apologized to fans for his DWI from last weekend.

Ergo, if you are reading this, then Jerome Felton has apologized to you.

Here is the full comment made by Felton on his McDonald’s DWI situation:

“Everybody on this team and in this organization has been good to me and the fans have been great.  I love it here. I can’t put myself in negative situations that don’t have a positive impact on the team and the community. That’s something that’s very important to me and I just want to sincerely apologize to the fans, No. 1, the organization and everybody around the Vikings.”

Pro football fans do not always get apologies from their players following screw ups, mainly because an apology is an admission of guilt.  Strangely, both Felton and Justin Blackmon of the Jaguars decided to proactively apologize to their teams and their fans for driving while intoxicated.

Felton is believed to have the inside track on the starting fullback position in Minnesota, but he may have a lot of work to do to gain back the trust of the coaching staff.

“We talked about some things when we got together for our first OTAs in our meetings about how we wanted to conduct ourselves,” Leslie Frazier said. “Then when a new guy comes to the club and he’s a veteran guy and something happened like it did over the weekend, it’s very disappointing. It’s something we’ll have to deal with and have to address, but you don’t want that to drown out all of the good things that some of our players are doing and what they’re doing in the community.”

2012 Vikings Predictions – Game By Game Record Predictions (Part 1)

June 6, 2012, by 14 comments

We’re about two months away from the official start of the 2012 season. The Vikings will travel all the way to San Francisco to face off with the 49ers to kick-off their preseason schedule. I’m considering preseason the “official start” of football because I’m desperate for things to begin and don’t want to admit that the real start probably isn’t actually until a month later when the regular season commences.

With football right around the corner, I thought it would be fun to start making some predictions about the 2012 season. Who will win key battles, what players will have breakout years, what games we will win and lose, what our record will be, etc… So today, I’m going to kick off this series by looking at the first quarter of the 2012 season and making a win/loss prediction for each game.

Dislaimer: Don’t put too much weight in these predictions. My ‘predictions’ in the past have, let’s just say, not always been spot on. Just ask anyone that was around here for our draft coverage and live draft chat – I was off on just about everything. It’s also still really early. We don’t even have a final roster set in place yet. Nevertheless, making these types of predictions are fun for everyone and typically start good conversation.

Also, on a side note, I want to sincerely apologize for not being around much lately. All I can say is that sometimes the “real world” can just get in the way. More specifically, the wife and I just purchased our first home. Between dealing with the builder, lendor and actually doing the moving, things have been very busy to say the least. We’re settled in to our new place now though and I plan on picking up my contributions around here more again. It should be said that Adam has done an awesome job of keeping fresh new content up during a time where there really isn’t much (Post-draft/Pre-season).

Alright, so back on topic. Join me after the jump to dive right in to the Vikings 2012 season.

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Some Wide Receiver News On Tuesday

June 5, 2012, by 8 comments

In filling their last remaining roster spot, the Vikings signed South Florida receiver A.J. Love as an undrafted free agent on Tuesday.

This isn’t really anything earth shattering, but I can remember in the flurry of UDFA signings right after the Draft finished it was reported by numerous outlets at that time that Love was signing with the Vikings.  At the end of the day those reports were erroneous, but in the long run I guess they turned out to be correct.

Love stands at 6’ 2” and weighs 208 pounds.  In 2008 and 2009, combined, he managed 56 catches for 843 yards and six scores.  In 2010, he had to sit out due to a knee injury, and his production lacked big time in 2011 where he only had nine grabs for 122 yards and a lone touchdown.

The story sounds similar to that of Greg Childs, which we discussed here, and Love could end up having some upside.  Childs, coincidentally enough, has not been participating in OTA practices due to a calf strain.

Some good news, however, is that Percy Harvin has rejoined the team during practices after initially sitting out and rehabbing as a result of his bone spur procedure from April.  Chad Greenway has also reportedly joined the team after dealing with a family issue.

Another Interesting Acquisition

June 5, 2012, by 7 comments

Rick Spielman and his scouts have had an interesting offseason when it comes to finding depth players.  They found the CFL’s hardest hitter.  They found a point guard.  They nabbed a running back that has overcome an inability to hear.

Now, they are at it again, for better or worse.

The Vikings filled the roster spot left by Asher Allen’s sudden retirement by picking up undrafted rookie Corey Gatewood out of Stanford.

The big question here is where Gatewood will fit in.  He started six games at cornerback in 2009 but, according to 1500 ESPN, requested to be put back at his original position of receiver.  In four seasons at Stanford (he sat 2008 out) Gatewood only had two career receptions, 10 career rushing attempts, and 10 kick returns.

At corner, the 5’ 11” Gatewood contributed on defense and special teams.  He has been credited with 40 career tackles, two interceptions, and one pick was returned for a touchdown.  He has no tackles for a loss, no sacks, no forced fumbles, and no fumbles recovered, according to this stats site.

Gatewood reportedly ran a 4.44 second forty yard dash at Stanford’s pro day, and may see his best chance of sticking to the roster by impressing on special teams.

The Vikings have listed Gatewood as a cornerback on their official roster.

After Midnight, Nothing Good Happens At A McDonald’s

June 4, 2012, by 13 comments

In the post below this one, we passed along the news that Minnesota fullback Jerome Felton was nabbed for a second degree DWI early Saturday morning.

What is otherwise a pathetic story took a somewhat (only somewhat) humorous turn on Monday when Judd Zulgad of 1500 ESPN reported that Felton was busted in none other than a McDonald’s drive-thru line.

According to the report, police were alerted to an intoxicated driver in a McDonald’s drive-thru and were able to respond before Felton received his order of seven big mac’s and a McFlurry (that part is speculation) and drive off.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time in recent memory that a Vikings player ended up in the headlines due to a late night visit to a McDonald’s.  In January of last year, Adrian Peterson got a McDonald’s worker fired when she let him into the restaurant after hours to use the restroom.

Thus, I think it is safe to say, nothing good happens at a McDonald’s after midnight.

Or strip clubs.

Or Miami nightclubs.

Or boats on Lake Minnetonka.

Felton’s Arrest Provides Another Challenge For Frazier

June 2, 2012, by 6 comments

When Leslie Frazier was promoted to head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, fans of the organization thought they would at least be getting a leader capable of keeping a group of young men out of trouble.

With Chris Cook, Caleb King, Rhett Bomar, Tyrell Johnson, and Everson Griffen all having gotten into trouble under Frazier’s watch it is now fullback Jerome Felton that continues the trend.

Felton, a free agent signing this offseason, was arrested on a second degree DWI charge after refusing to submit to a chemical test.  Felton landed in Hennepin County Jail early on Saturday morning, but was released later in the day after making a $12,000 bond.

“We are aware of the situation and working to gather more information,” a Vikings statement read. “We’ll have no further comment at this time.”  Felton’s agent also declined to comment.

Felton has no prior known incidents with the law and will likely escape punishment from the NFL, but to Vikings fans this is just another case of a completely preventable embarrassment occuring when it shouldn’t have.

According to Tom Pelissero of 1500 ESPN, the Vikings offer a car service to their players to utilize in instances that they should not be driving.  Apparently, Felton had a reason (a good one or otherwise) for not utilizing the service and is now on the hook for embarrassing himself and the team.

Felton was penciled in by many, including myself, as the presumed starting fullback this upcoming season and it remains to be seen if this incident impacts his chances in any way.

All I know is that these guys have to get their act together.

There is not enough talent on this team, or any NFL team for that matter, to have starters sitting in jail cells on Sundays, or sitting at home on suspensions.

Oh, and as if my disgust isn’t making itself known enough:  Driving drunk is a selfish, dangerous, and idiotic thing to do… no matter who you are.